How very, very odd that advocating for sensible gun control is politizing while hysterically advocating against sensible gun control is not?

And no Miss Z - it is not about Republicans and Democrats. There are Dems who oppose gun control and Reps who do not. The accusation of "political agenda" is just a red herring that people throw in to try and put off the discussion of sensible gun control until the lastest tragedy is forgotten.

And mental health is only a piece of the equation. The man who shot a car full of teenagers because they were playing music in their car too loud for him would probably not count as mentally ill.

It is complicated and will not be solved until people can rationally discuss why as a nation we have such an outrageous number of deaths by gun.

Just turned on Katie. Two very loving forgiving parents were just interviewed. The father said the young man who did the shooting had it rougher then him. What a brave father he is & so forgiving. He has made the world a better place already. God Bless Him & All The People Affected By This Tragedy

I saw the program. I kinda wanted to get away from all the talk about this whole tragedy & there it was again. Katie did a good job
with the right spirit to have a talk to some ofthe people involved in the shooting. The Father was unbelievably kind & forgiving in his
talking about the shooter. Did you notice the Mother's reactions. She broke my heart. I wanted to put my arms around her. She is still
very much in shock & dealing with her loss of her daughter, minute by minute as she said, rather than day by day.

I've Been Boo'd

I've been Frosted

Today is the oldest you've ever been, and the youngest you'll ever be again.

A few things you won’t hear about from the saturation coverage of the Newtown, Conn., school massacre:

Mass shootings are no more common than they have been in past decades, despite the impression given by the media.

In fact, the high point for mass killings in the U.S. was 1929, according to criminologist Grant Duwe of the Minnesota Department of Corrections.

Incidents of mass murder in the U.S. declined from 42 in the 1990s to 26 in the first decade of this century.

The chances of being killed in a mass shooting are about what they are for being struck by lightning.

Until the Newtown horror, the three worst K–12 school shootings ever had taken place in either Britain or Germany.

Almost all of the public-policy discussion about Newtown has focused on a debate over the need for more gun control. In reality, gun control in a country that already has 200 million privately owned firearms is likely to do little to keep weapons out of the hands of criminals. We would be better off debating two taboo subjects — the laws that make it difficult to control people with mental illness and the growing body of evidence that “gun-free” zones, which ban the carrying of firearms by law-abiding individuals, don’t work.

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First, the mental-health issue. A lengthy study by Mother Jones magazine found that at least 38 of the 61 mass shooters in the past three decades “displayed signs of mental health problems prior to the killings.” New York Times columnist David Brooks and Cornell Law School professor William Jacobson have both suggested that the ACLU-inspired laws that make it so difficult to intervene and identify potentially dangerous people should be loosened. “Will we address mental-health and educational-privacy laws, which instill fear of legal liability for reporting potentially violent mentally ill people to law enforcement?” asks Professor Jacobson. “I doubt it.”

Gun-free zones have been the most popular response to previous mass killings. But many law-enforcement officials say they are actually counterproductive. “Guns are already banned in schools. That is why the shootings happen in schools. A school is a ‘helpless-victim zone,’” says Richard Mack, a former Arizona sheriff. “Preventing any adult at a school from having access to a firearm eliminates any chance the killer can be stopped in time to prevent a rampage,” Jim Kouri, the public-information officer of the National Association of Chiefs of Police, told me earlier this year at the time of the Aurora, Colo., Batman-movie shooting. Indeed, there have been many instances — from the high-school shooting by Luke Woodham in Mississippi, to the New Life Church shooting in Colorado Springs, Colo. — where a killer has been stopped after someone got a gun from a parked car or elsewhere and confronted the shooter.

Economists John Lott and William Landes conducted a groundbreaking study in 1999, and found that a common theme of mass shootings is that they occur in places where guns are banned and killers know everyone will be unarmed, such as shopping malls and schools.

I spoke with Lott after the Newtown shooting, and he confirmed that nothing has changed to alter his findings. He noted that the Aurora shooter, who killed twelve people earlier this year, had a choice of seven movie theaters that were showing the Batman movie he was obsessed with. All were within a 20-minute drive of his home. The Cinemark Theater the killer ultimately chose wasn’t the closest, but it was the only one that posted signs saying it banned concealed handguns carried by law-abiding individuals. All of the other theaters allowed the approximately 4 percent of Colorado adults who have a concealed-handgun permit to enter with their weapons.

“Disarming law-abiding citizens leaves them as sitting ducks,” Lott told me. “A couple hundred people were in the Cinemark Theater when the killer arrived. There is an extremely high probability that one or more of them would have had a legal concealed handgun with him if they had not been banned.”

Lott offers a final damning statistic: “With just one single exception, the attack on congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson in 2011, every public shooting since at least 1950 in the U.S. in which more than three people have been killed has taken place where citizens are not allowed to carry guns.”

There is no evidence that private holders of concealed-carry permits (which are either easy to obtain or not even required in more than 40 states) are any more irresponsible with firearms than the police. According to a 2005 to 2007 study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin and Bowling Green State University, police nationwide were convicted of firearms violations at least at a 0.002 percent annual rate. That’s about the same rate as holders of carry permits in the states with “shall issue” laws.

Despite all of this evidence, the magical thinking behind gun-free zones is unlikely to be questioned in the wake of the Newtown killings. Having such zones gives people a false sense of security, and woe to the politician or business owner who now suggests that a “gun-free zone” revert back to what critics would characterize as “a wild, wild West” status. Indeed, shortly after the Cinemark attack in Colorado, the manager of the nearby Northfield Theaters changed its policy and began banning concealed handguns.

In all of the fevered commentary over the Newtown killings, you will hear little discussion of the fact that we may be making our families and neighbors less safe by expanding the places where guns aren’t allowed. But that is precisely what we may be doing. Both criminals and the criminally insane have shown time and time again that those laws are the least of the problems they face as they carry out their evil deeds.

I readily admit that I am very biased in this situation however, I am prepared to compromise. Let's say that individuals do have the right to bear arms providing the arms are the same ones (not replicas) manufactured and available at the time the 2nd amendment was written. It was ratified in 1791 I believe?

I'm going to get flamed for saying this, but I've hit the point of not caring one whit.

There are many, many things about Canadian law, the laws of the Euro zone, and other places that frankly I don't like.

Ya know what? I don't live there.

The laws don't affect me.

As such, I don't comment on the internal politics of other nations unless it has a direct, material effect on the United States.

Our Constitution has no material effect on Canada or the UK. (Miss Z, this isn't aimed at you in any way, shape or form). It's our peculiar document.

Leave its workings to the people it effects.

That was about the nicest SHUT UP I've ever heard. I for one appreciate views from "outsiders" on any subject. We are too close to the problem to see all
facets of this issue. It helps to get a view from anyone who can view this from another perspective.

I've Been Boo'd

I've been Frosted

Today is the oldest you've ever been, and the youngest you'll ever be again.

NRA goes unusually silent after Connecticut school shooting

NRA goes unusually silent after Connecticut school shooting

The Associated Press
Published Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012 7:18AM EST
Last Updated Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012 8:16AM EST
WASHINGTON -- Where is the NRA?
The largest U.S. gun-rights organization -- typically outspoken, even after shooting deaths -- has gone all but silent since last week's rampage at a Connecticut school left 26 people dead, including 20 children.
The National Rifle Association's Facebook page has disappeared. The NRA has posted no tweets. It makes no mention of the shooting on its website. None of its leaders hit the media circuit Sunday to promote its support of the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment right to bear arms as the nation mourns the latest mass shooting victims and opens a new debate over gun restrictions. On Monday, the NRA offered no rebuttal as 300 anti-gun protesters marched to its Capitol Hill office.

A Note From Michael Moore

I am truly beside myself this time. I tried to ring a warning bell about this a decade ago. The disease has only gotten worse.

But...you feel something different in the air across America tonight, don't you? People have had it and the outrage is loud and visible. I'm convinced the majority of Americans will now back strong gun control laws. And a better mental health care system. And perhaps a few are willing to look at the deeper issue of how this country officially sanctions violence as a means to an end.

The NRA, for the first time ever, has gone silent. They've taken their Facebook page down. They know they can't show up in Newtown next week and stick it to the people there, like they usually do after one of these mass killings. Let's face it, the gun lobby tonight is on the ropes. Now is the time to act. We can't let this sad moment pass without a true response and a president willing to be a strong leader.

I'll send some more thoughts tomorrow, but for now I thought I'd share with you what I've been sending out over Twitter this weekend. (If you're not on Twitter, please consider it. I know – not one more social media stop, please! But I've found it to be a quick and easy way to communicate with millions. Please give it a try. I send things out on it every day and I'd like you not to miss them.)

Cerberus Seeks Sale of Gun Maker Freedom Group

By ISABELLA STEGER Private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP is seeking to sell the company that makes a gun used in last week's shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

Some time on Monday, Walmart.com removed a listing for the Bushmaster Patrolman's Carbine M4A3 Rifle; the move was first reported by the Nation magazine.

A Wal-Mart spokesman said the gun was never available for purchase online, only at some of the retailer's stores, but wouldn't comment on why the chain removed the website listing, which included customer reviews.
The rifle was still available Monday for purchase in Wal-Mart stores, including a supercenter in San Marcos, Texas, according to a clerk there.

Because like the media, the soul-less lawyers are circling under the surface ready to file any lawsuits.

I looked at my roomie and told her, "I can hardly wait for the lawsuits to start."

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I can bet a million dollars that the school district will get sued for having a window so close to a locked door.
And moron could see that a window, next to a door that allows access via and electric lock and CCTV setup, really isn't 'safe'.

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Why did is the NRA silent?

MY guess is if they had put out any kind of media statement, people would be fanned into self immolation.

Instead of having a calm discussion about gun ownership, people rush to judgement about people who own or like guns.

We are all tossed into the same box as some moron that shoots up a school/theater/mall.

I do like my guns, not to the point where I am going to have them pried from my cold dead fingers...

Where people find cigars and wine to be things to be appreciated?

Talk about mouth cancer and driving into a car of people after a few bottles of Merlot.

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The people that are using this incident for airtime should be ashamed of themselves.....

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL, Nancy Pelosi wants 'assault magazines' to be outlawed. My mom used to beat my arse with a rolled up monthly.

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I guess people really don't understand that any gun used against another person is an 'assault weapon'.

I read in the paper that school has resumed and the kids are being driven to a vacant school in a nearby town. It didn't say how long they would continue to use that building but I think it's good that they were able to get it ready quickly.

And sadly, that the first few funerals for the children have been scheduled. The local funeral home is going to be very busy between now and Christmas.

I've been Boo'd... right off the stage!

Aaahh, I have been defrosted! Thank you, Bonny and Asiel!
Brrrr, I've been Frosted! Thank you, Asiel and Pomtzu!

"That's the power of kittens (and puppies too, of course): They can reduce us to quivering masses of Jell-O in about two seconds flat and make us like it. Good thing they don't have opposable thumbs or they'd surely have taken over the world by now." -- Paul Lukas